Governmentalities and hierarchical purification of human rights in Brazil: Public education and the LGBT+ population

Abstract

The present article aims to analyze the relations among government, education, and public policy regarding gender and sexual diversity in the context of the last two decades in Brazil. Therefore, we propose a division in three logics that define articulated forms of heterogeneous political actors in the redefinition of educational policies for sexual and gender diversity. Considering these three logics, we analyze state actions in the educational field targeted at the LGBT+ population in three different modes of governance: adherence with low institutionality; the repulse sustained by the emergence of anti-gender offensives and, finally, the assimilation and co-optation of diversity within the Federal Executive branch. These forms of governability allow us to analyze recent events according to their historicity, pointing out not only the ruptures but also the continuities in governmental management. Thus, we argue that the context of low institutionalization of policies in the former logic, coupled with the emergency of the anti-gender crusades and their legitimation through the operationalization within the state contributed to the present scenario of resignification of human rights and institutional legitimation of heterosexuality and cisgenerity as mandatory and naturalizing norms.